The Survivor's Need
by FogKnight22
Summary: Joel has got captured by a former close partner because of the Fireflies' intentions. Is Joel going to give in or is he going to save what is precious to him? (AU) ONE-SHOT!


**The Survivor's Need**

**Author's Note:**

**Hello everyone. I did not have any intention to write a fan fiction for The Last of Us but after the latest news about Naughty Dog's scrapped ending details, I couldn't resist to write something similar. I don't recommend people who didn't finish The Last of Us to read this since it has a part from the game's ending. If you don't want to get spoiled then please don't proceed and play the masterpiece.**

**Let's get started, shall we? *evil grin***

* * *

**Mysterious Room**

"AUGH!" Joel coughed as he got a punch to the stomach. He would've dodged it easily but he was tied up on the chair. The ropes that tied him up from the hands behind his back to the feet strangled together. "_No escape huh?" _He thought as he tried to look around the surroundings. He was in a messed up room that he didn't recognize. The walls were damaged and had graffiti all over them, the windows were dusted up and didn't have any sunlight coming out, and a load of blood on the room's floor. "_Looks like poor bastards didn't live here for long…"_

He continued to investigate as he found Marlene's body in some kind of a closet. It was closed but not closed enough to not know what was inside, and he was sure that he saw Marlene's face. "Poor Marlene… She got bitten by one of the runners then killed herself." A feminine voice came to be as it gets louder at every step. "She entrusted me with the mission of finding the cure..." Joel laughed as she stated that. "That is a good one... I thought you were in for the guns." The figure then made a small laugh as she said, "I have a choice to change my mind, don't I?" He then looked at her in disgust as she started to stare at him intently.

"That's why you captured me huh? I can already withstand pain so try your best." Joel scoffed as she began to crack her knuckles. "One way or another, you are going to answer this question..." Shen then grabbed his hair but the darkness was covering her face but Joel can see that disturbing face crystal clear. "Where the fuck is Ellie?" She asked as Joel looked at the figure with a cold glare and responded, "Go to hell…"

He tried to look for any object to use to free himself until he got another punch and coughed up blood. He knew why he was getting tortured and who the torturer was. She was his only person who he can trust besides Ellie. His partner in survival but actually, she was his partner in crime.

"I AM NOT GOING TO TELL YOU SHIT TES-"He got interrupted by another punch as he coughed up more blood. "I don't want to do this Joel, but you gave me no choice so I am going to ask once again…" Tess had crouched a bit as she showed her face to Joel. She has brown frizzy hair that reaches to her shoulders, brown eyes but she didn't have the bandanna she always wore. She looked at him deeply in the eyes and asked him once again, "Where is Ellie, Joel?" Joel made a terrifying glare at her as he once again heard that question. He discovered that the Fireflies wanted to take her to create a vaccine for the plague. The catch is her life since they needed to take her cordyceps from her brain that is mutated. She got mental shock as she got unconscious after her battle with David. Joel, after discovering the Fireflies' true intention, has hided Ellie at Tommy's dam.

"YOU ARE GOING TO TELL ME YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Tess suddenly took a knife out of her pocket and got it near Joel's throat as she grabbed his hair once again and staring at his bloodied face with a busted nose. She had a devilish face as Joel kept glaring at her as he gritted his teeth. "You have no idea… Why I am doing this." Joel responded as Tess got the knife much closer to his throat. "DON'T THINK THAT I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU AND ELLIE! EVER SINCE SARAH DIED, YOU WANT TO REPLACE HER WITH ELLIE!" Tess was enraged as she said that which made Joel furious.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE BRING SARAH INTO THIS!" Joel yelled as he spat on Tess's face. Tess took the knife away and moved a bit farther from him. "Joel… We need the vaccine… I NEED THE VACCINE!" Tess stated as she gave a punch to Joel's face as he spat blood once again. Tess is a good brawler, that's why Joel is getting damaged easily from her. The thing that he didn't get is that why does Tess needed the vaccine. He had to wait and see if she was going to answer.

"THE WORLD IS GOING TO BE FIXED BECAUSE OF THIS VAC-" "NO IT WON'T TESS AND YOU KNOW THAT! OUR SOCIETY IS FUCKED UP AS WE ARE SPEAKING NOW!" Joel interrupted her with a hellish look as Tess widened her eyes. "WE ARE ALREADY KILLING EACH OTHER, AND THE FUCKING HUNTERS ARE EATING PEOPLE! AND YOU THINK A SIMPLE VACCINE WILL CURE MANKIND?! IT ISN'T EVEN A FUCKING CURE, GOD DAMN IT!" Tess clenched her fist as she heard those words. "IT IS THE FUCKING FIRST STEP TO STOP THE DAMN PLAGUE JOEL! AND YOU ARE WILLING TO STOP JUST FOR A LITTLE GIRL?!" Joel then looked down as she presumed that he is thinking. "_He better change his god damn mind… For my sake."_

Joel then looked up and stared at Tess's face for some seconds. He then answered the question which terrified Tess. "Yes… I would. The society is already fucked up, and it is already impossible for Fireflies to distribute the vaccine." Tess then glared at him with much more widened eyes and gritted her teeth as she stabbed Joel to his knee. "GOD DAMN IT TESS!" Joel yelled as he released a shriek from his knee stab. "YES IT IS GOD DAMN POSSIBLE, YOU JUST DON'T KNOW THAT!" She yelled as Joel wanted to grab his knee but he was already tied up so well, he can't even scratch his own back.

"Oh I am sure of it Tess… The Hunters, and the soldiers would kill the Fireflies in a heartbeat just before they say a god damn letter. You know that too Tess." Tess then looked down as she started to get tears out from her eyes. They were getting out like a fountain. "_I am sorry Tess." _Joel wanted to apologize but he couldn't do that. Tess looked at him with pitiful eyes as she pleaded, "Joel… I want to survive… Look at this fucking bite." Tess then revealed a big bite at her right shoulder. Joel then got his eyes widened as he only managed to mutter, "Oh god Tess…. WHAT HAVE YOU FUCKING DON-"

Joel got interrupted as he got another stab to the next knee. "SHIT!" Joel once again shrieked as he got a stronger impact at his other knee. "I am going to do anything to survive… Even if it means that I have to kill you." Joel then tried to scrutinize the room once again to find anything sharp that he can use to escape but there isn't anything and he can't disarm Tess. "You tell me where in the living fuck is Ellie…. Or I will give a stab to your impaled wound you got from your "little trip" to the university." Joel then looked furious as she said that.

He then tried to shake the chair but it was stuck on the floor. "_How in the hell…" _"I already know your special ways to escape since I was your partner. I already glued the chair to floor. You. Can't. Escape." Tess stated as she made a lunatic grin which made Joel cringe. "Heh… Looks like I chose a good partner." Joel stated with a small laugh which made Tess grin even more. "Oh yes Joel… You chose well… AND IT WAS A FUCKING MISTAKE!" Tess then stabbed Joel to the impaled wound and Joel released a terrifying scream.

* * *

**Outside the Building**

It was like forest at Salt Lake City. Trees and grasses were everywhere, and the giraffes were free to roam around as if it was a wild jungle, which is technically true. Right outside the building, a scream has been heard by a young girl. "Shit…." The young girl, who is surprisingly Ellie, has discovered that it was Joel's scream. "_Good riddance that I woke up early!" _She sighed in relief as she was still on time.

"_Who in the hell would do this?" _Ellie tried to think of a person who would have a reason to torture Joel. Whoever is the suspect, she would kill him or her without remorse or hesitation. Joel is the father who she always had wanted. "_Hang in there Joel, I am coming."_

* * *

**Mysterious Room**

Joel was breathing heavily after that heartless stab. "See Joel… I am going to do ANYTHING to fucking survive." Joel kept gasping as he felt that torturous pain as he tried to not get unconscious. "Even if you got… The god damn vaccine… It won't do shit anyway." Joel muttered as he felt the blood ooze around his thigh and soaking his green favorite shirt. He got stabbed once again to his left arm. "DAMN IT!" He yelled as he mentally sighed in relief that it was his left arm. He was right-handed anyway.

Tess then made her knife touch his neck as she started to cry more. "Tess… You don't have to do this…" Joel muttered as he started to get tears out too. "I… Don't want to turn into one of these things Joel. You know that, don't you?" Tess muttered as Joel remembered after one of the intense fights against the clickers at Boston, she kept crying in his arms as she begged to not let her get bitten by them. "I know Tess… I wish it was that easy but I can't…" Joel kept looking down as he thought of Ellie. He then looked behind Tess and noticed a young girl with red hair sneaking behind her. He then looked at Tess as she pushed her knife to his throat as a small bit of blood is coming out.

"Looks like I can't get the information out of you… Goodbye Joe-" She then gasped as she got stabbed from the nape of her neck as the switchblade pierced out from the front of her neck. "I am sorry Tess… I am not letting you touch Joel." Ellie stated as she pulled out her knife as Tess grabbed her neck to try to stop the bleeding but it was futile. "E…ll…ie" She muttered Ellie's name as she closed her eyes and fell to the ground. The blood was oozing out of her neck as it created a pond under her body…. Tess is dead.

"Joel! Let me free you!" She said as she cut the tight ropes and Joel managed to stand up… Until he fell again as Tess stabbed him in many locations. "Ellie… I need your help." Joel said as he put himself on Ellie's shoulder. "I thought…. That you were unconscious." Joel said as Ellie looked at him with a grin. "I thought you knew that I am full of surprises." Joel smirked at her response as they both got out of the building and found Callus, the horse, waiting for them right outside the building. Joel managed to get himself on the back of the horse as Ellie sat on the front. They went their way back to the dam as Ellie didn't know anything about Fireflies' intentions.

"Tommy told me that the Fireflies stopped finding the cure…" Ellie said as Joel smiled. He told Tommy to lie to Ellie about the Fireflies and since Tommy knew what pain his brother suffered, he couldn't let it happen again so he accepted. "Yeah… They found dozens of people who are immune from the plague. You aren't the only one who is special." Joel said as Ellie frowned. He couldn't see Ellie's face so he doesn't know how she takes it. "Swear to me…" Ellie suddenly responded. "What?" Joel narrowed his eyes as Ellie looked at him with wet face from her tears and moist eyes.

"Swear to me that what both of you said about the Fireflies is true." Joel then looked at her intently for some seconds until he responded, "I swear." Joel swore a lie as Ellie looked at him for some seconds then nodded with a smile. "_I should thank Tommy since he was a Firefly. That's why she took it_" Joel noted as he sighed in relief as she took it. "So Ellie… You said that you wanted to learn how to swim and play guitar right?" He asked with a grin as Ellie nodded once again. "Yeah! When are we going to start?"

"Once I get healed, I will teach you all what I know." Joel stated as he made a smirk. "Alright. Can't wait!" Ellie responded as she sounded excited. "_Good thing that Marlene is dead… They can't catch Ellie anymore." _Joel though as he made a smile that he succeeded to keep Ellie as his adopted daughter. "_Sarah.." _Joel closed his eyes as he imagined his dead daughter and after some seconds, he got a tear out from his eye. He dried it off then focused on the road along with Ellie as they rode to Tommy's dam and live their live peacefully.

"_You would've liked Ellie, Sarah… I miss you"_ Joel thought one more time as the sunset covered them with beautiful colors in peace. They can finally live in peace with no killing and tragedies. He is still affected by Henry and Sam's deaths and wished that they were with him.

"Joel, we are close." Ellie stated as they see the dam up close. They looked at the only place that has no infected and lunatics like the Hunters. "We are going to move on from all of the terrible stuff that happened before this, alright Ellie?" Joel announced as Ellie gave him a thumb up. Joel nodded then proceeded to think about their life after all this.

"_Peace… How long have I missed you."_ They arrived and the life they are about to start will be the one that they will relax from all the bloodshed and betrayals.


End file.
